The unstoppable Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) bandwagon rolled on Tuesday, hitting a new intra-day high after broker Piper Jaffray tipped the stock would hit US$200.
The stock, which hit an all-time intra-day high yesterday of US$168.07, rose to US$168.69 from last night’s close of US$166.72 in early trading, as analysts rushed to gush about the company following strong orders for the iPhone X. Later, it added 1.23% to US$168.77.
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Piper Jaffray analyst Michael Olson became the third analyst to predict that Apple’s stock would surge to US$200 within the next 12 months as he raised his target price from US$196 to US$200.
The price target revision came after a recent survey indicated that iPhone owners were much more likely to upgrade to the latest models from Apple than they were in a similar survey held last year.
The recently released iPhone 8 and the available-on-order iPhone X both command higher prices than older models, so Olson has amended his fiscal 2018 estimates for average selling prices of iPhones to US$720 from US$710.
The revisions have fed through to an upgrade in Olson’s earnings per share forecast to US$11.17 from US$11.11.
Olson’s punchy price target is still eight bucks short of Drexel Burnham’s price target, which tops the range of analyst forecasts.